The Seekers: The Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World Read Free Page A

careful not to do anything evil.” And Satan replied, “Would Job worship you if he got nothing out of it?” Satan suggests that Job’s virtue and piety are explained only by his desire for the reward of prosperity. Job has already received the reward of his virtue in a rich farm, a beautiful family, and the respect of all his neighbors. “You bless everything he does,” Satan insists, “and you have given him enough cattle to fill the whole country. But now suppose you take everything he has—he will curse you to your face!”
    Yahweh then allows Satan to put the man’s faith to the test. Job’s cattle are stolen, his sheep are struck by lightning. His children are all killed in a desert storm. And, finally, Satan covers Job’s body with sores. Still Job does not curse God, but he does curse the day he was born. And he asks, “Why let men go on living in misery? Why give light to men in grief? Instead of eating, I mourn, and I can never stop groaning.”
    Three friends then come to Job, and each in turn gives his reasons for Job’s suffering. Each has another way of saying that Job is being punished. “Can anyone be righteous in the sight of God or pure before his Creator?” asks Eliphaz. “God does not trust his heavenly servants; he finds fault even with his angels. Do you think he will trust a creature of clay, a thing of dust that can be crushed like a moth?” Bildad suggests that Job’s children must have sinned and so God only punished them as they deserved. Zophar insists that Job must have sinned even when he did not know it. “God is punishing you less than you deserve.” Job himself does not admit to sin, and does not curse God but only complains of God’s capriciousness. There seems to be no understanding of the ways of God. In a second round of dialogues, these friends recite the punishment of the wicked, while Job retorts that on the contrary the wicked do prosper. In still another round, the friends once again accuse Job of sins he had not recognized. But Job demands an opportunity to present his case directly to God. Still Job does not curse God but extols the Wisdom “not to be found among men.”
    When God finally responds to Job’s complaint of God’s capriciousness it is not by assertions of His power, but by reminders of His glory and the wonders of His creation. He appeals not to revelation but to experience. And He reminds Job that he is addressing the Creator God.

    Who are you to question my wisdom
    with your ignorant empty words?
    Stand up now like a man
    and answer the questions I ask you.
    Were you there when I made the world?
    If you know so much, tell me about it.
    Who decided how large it would be?
    Who stretched the measuring line over it?
    Do you know all the answers? (Job 38:2-9)

    Job, have you ever in all your life
    commanded a day to dawn?

    Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth
    and shake the wicked from their hiding places? (Job 38:12-13)
    Unashamedly God boasts the rhythms and glories of nature, along with the bizarre miscellany of his creatures:

    Who is it that feeds the ravens
    when they wander about hungry
    when their young cry to me for food?
    Do you know when mountain goats are born?
    Have you watched wild deer give birth? (Job 38:41-39:2)
    Was it you, Job, who made horses so strong
    and gave them their flowing manes?
    Did you make them leap like locusts
    and frighten men with their snorting? (Job 39:19ff.)
    Look at the monster Behemoth;

    I created him and I created you.
    He eats grass like a cow,
    but what strength there is in his body. (Job 40:15ff.)
    Can you catch Leviathan with a fishhook
    or tie his tongue down with a rope?
    Can you put a rope through his snout
    or put a hook through his jaws? (Job 41:1ff.)
    Touch him once and you’ll never try it again. (Job 41:18)

    Finally Job confesses that the Lord is “all powerful; that you can do everything that you want . . .”

    I talked about things I did not understand,
    about marvels too great